Chris Cuomo, the new prime-time anchor at NewsNation, has demanded his new bosses move his show to a different time slot, blaming his relatively low viewership on the programs that precede him, the New York Post reported.
Despite some significant media buzz about his launch, viewers are not tuning in, and Cuomo is furious.
"Chris was going around screaming that Newsmax is beating him," a source told the Post.
Cuomo joined the liberal NewsNation, rebranded from WGN America, on Oct. 3 after CNN fired him for assisting his brother, former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo, navigate a sex scandal.
He joined a left-leaning cast, including former MSNBC hosts Dan Abrams and Ashleigh Banfield.
Now, the TV host is reportedly pleading with the channel's new president, Michael Corn, about switching to the 9 p.m. ET weeknight slot currently occupied by the network's anchor Abrams.
The Post reported Cuomo's ratings have been averaging about 119,000 persons watching.
According to Nielsen ratings, Newsmax's "Eric Bolling The Balance," who appears in the 8 p.m. ET weeknight primetime slot, consistently beats Cuomo with 150,000 to over 200,000 viewers a night.
But the Nielsen data is even worse for Cuomo because NewsNation is available in more than 20 million more cable homes than Newsmax.
The Nielsen Coverage Rating, which shows the proportionate viewership of both programs based on actual cable distribution, shows Bolling is trouncing Cuomo by almost 2 to 1, with a .14 share rating to Cuomo's paltry .08.
And the Nielsen ratings do not include Newsmax's large streaming OTT audience, which increases Bolling's Nielsen numbers by more than 50%.
"He's a Cuomo," the Post source added. "He doesn't blame himself. His entire life he's been told he's special. No one is talking about his show."
Cuomo is said to want the time slot of "Dan Abrams Live," which brings in 60,000-100,000 viewers on a given night.
Still, NewsNation insiders were skeptical Cuomo's swapping with Abrams would make any difference.
But a spokeswoman for NewsNation denied any such reports to be true.
"Your information is completely, totally, 100% inaccurate," she said.
Still, Cuomo's best-rated show, which appeared after the Dr. Mehmet Oz-John Fetterman debate for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seat, drew an audience of 214,000.
According to an anonymous TV executive: "The show sucks. Cuomo talked for 12 minutes straight. He did Fetterman debate analysis with no clips illustrating his points. It was just him ranting."
Sources from NewsNation reported the formerly esteemed news anchor could be found complaining off-camera, too.
Recently, Cuomo scolded NewsNation's marketing teams for not hyping his show enough, despite the major push from a PR campaign for him.
"Chris has zero patience. This isn't going to end well," an insider said.
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